Slide fasteners

ABSTRACT

A holder for sliders of the type used on slide fasteners (or zippers), the holder comprising a pair of jaws biased towards each other and arranged to engage a finger grip on a slider, and a support arranged to engage the body of the slider, the support and jaws being arranged such that as the jaws move towards each other the finger grip is engaged and moved or pulled in a direction away from the body of the slider which is located on the support, thereby opening any automatic locking device associated with the slider.

United States Patent [a Burstein [11] 3,745,636 [451 July 17,1973

SLIDE FASTENERS Ely Burstein, 204 Trinity Hall, Highlands, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa Filed: July 20,1971 Appl. No.: 164,259

[76] Inventor:

US. Cl 29/207.5 SL Int. Cl B23p 19/04 Field of Search 29/207.5 SL, 207.5 R,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/ 1951 McDonald et al. 29/2075 SL ll/l965 v Dritz .L 29/207.5 SL

' A holder for sliders of the type used on slide fasteners A T6515 rimner rbomas" Ea g e r Attorney-Brenner, O'Brien & Guay 57] ABSTRACT 13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures III SLIDE FASTENERS This invention relates to slide fasteners and more particularly the invention relates to holders for holding a slider whilst the two halves of a slide fastener are introduced into the slider to assemble the fastener.

Generally a slider holder is provided on a bottom stop inserting machine in order to assemble a slide fastener immediately prior to insertion of the bottom stop thereon but may of course be used independently of such a machine.

Slider holders presently available comprise a pair of jaws movable towards and away from one another along a substantially straight line. These slider holders are adapted to engage the body of a slider to hold it in position and do not operate effectively with sliders having an automatic locking device which prevents movement of a slider along a fastener without pulling the finger grip away from the body of the slider.

It is the object of this invention to provide a slider holder which will operate on all types of sliders whether they have automatic locking devices or not.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a slider holder of the type described comprising a support shaped to receive a slider and engage the body thereof and a pair of relatively movable jaws adapted to engage the finger grip of the slider, the pair of jaws and the support being relatively movable in a direction transverse to the support.

Further features of the invention provide for the jaws to be movable towards and away from one another in a direction substantially parallel to the support surfaces as well as in a direction away from the support, for the jaws to be located at the ends of a pair of pivotally connected first order levers which do not cross each other with the free ends of these levers pivotally connected to corresponding ends of a pair of crossed first order levers with the pivot connecting the latter'fixed relative to the support, and for the jaws to be spring loaded towards each other and towards a position in which they are retracted from the support.

The invention also provides for the support to be movable towards and away from the jaws, for one jaw to be fixed, for an operating lever to be provided for the movable jaw, for the support to be associated with the movable jaw in a manner such that it is moved towards the jaws upon movement of the jaws away from the each other and vice versa, for the jaws to be spring loaded towards each other, and for the support to be spring loaded with the bias away from the jaws.

Still further features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of two preferred embodiments of the invention.

In this description reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation of the slider holder with the jaws closed;

FIG. 2 is a similar view to FIG. 1 but with the jaws open;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of an inverted slider; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional elevation of the second preferred slider holder as used on a bottom stop inserting machine.

In the first preferred embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the slider holder includes a bar or body 1 having a support 2 at the top thereof shaped to engage the surface 3 of a slider from which the finger grip 4 depends. This support may be in the form of a plate having a perforation therethrough shaped to receive the finger grip 4 and retainer member 5 connecting the latter to the body of the slider as shown in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the support may be in the form of four spaced and upwardly extending lugs (not shown) located to engage the body of a slider.

Within the body below the support 2 there fastener a pair of jaws 6 located at adjacent ends of a pair of pivotally connected levers 7 of the first order which do not cross each other, i.e., these levers 7 are such that inward movement of a pair of corresponding ends causes outward movement of the opposite ends. Such corresponding ends 8 of these levers are each pivotally connected to one adjacent end 9 of a second pair of levers 10 which are also of the first order but in this case the levers 10 cross at their pivot. Thus, inward movement of the free ends of this second pair of levers 10 causes inward movement of the opposite ends 9 thereof.

The free ends of the second pair of levers are each shaped to form a handle 11 and these levers are each curved such that the pivots 12 connecting them to the first levers 7 form with the pivot 13 connecting these levers to each other a large angle as shown in FIG. 1; these three pivotsmay in fact be in a straight line when the jaws 6 are completely closed. The handles 11 are spring loaded away from each other by means of a spring 14 and the pivot 13 connecting the levers of the second pair thereof is fixed relative to the body 1.

In use, when it is desired to hold a slider, the handles 1 1 are drawn towards each other to the position in FIG. 2. This causes the jaws 6 to move upwardly towards the support 2 and also to move away from each other due to the relative location of the three pivots above described. A slider is then placed upside down on the support such that the finger grip 4 falls between the jaws 6 and the handles are then released. Such release causes the jaws 6 to engage the finger grip 4 and also to pull it downwardly such that the body of the slider firmly engages the support 2. This downward motion of the jaws 6 will also cause an automatic locking device onthe slider to be opened by pulling the retainer member 5 downwardly which releases the lock.

It will be understood that with correct design of the support 2 the above-described slider holder may be used on any type of slider presently available.

In this application the body of the slider holder is provided with an anvil 15 for closing the free ends of a bottom stop (or staple). 7

It will be understood that many variations may be made to the above-described example without departing from the scope of this invention. One variation of particular importance is to fix one of the pivots 12 relative to the body and to provide a single lever 10 to opcrate the jaws 6. This single lever would be used where the holder is used in conjun conjunction with a bottom stop inserting machine of the type wherein the anvil is mounted on an axially slidable bar, the single lever being adapted to open the jaws when it is utilized to move the sliding bar outwardly from the machine.

In the second preferred embodiment of the invention a slider holder is provided at the outer end 21 of a sliding body or bar 22 of a bottom stop inserting machine 23 as shown in FIG. 4. The holder has a support 24, one end 25 of which extends into a horizontal recess 26 adjacent the upper end of the sliding bar 22 and the other end 27 bent downward to rest on an extremity 28 of a pivotally mounted operating lever 29. The pivot 30 for the lever 29 is fixed relative to the sliding bar 22. The other extremity 31 of the operating lever 29 protrudes beyond the outer end 21 of the sliding bar and is bent downwards and provided with a handle 32. The extremity 31 of the operating lever 29 is spring loaded to the bar 22 by means of a spring 33 such that this extremity is biased towards downward movement. or raised.

By operating the handle 32 the opposite extremity 28 of the lever 29 can be lowered or raised and simultaneously the support 24, one end 27 of which rests thereupon, will be lowered or raised.

About the same pivot 30 a member 34 is mounted in a substantially vertical position. The member 34 carries a jaw 35 on the vertical face thereof adjacent the upper end 36 and is spring loaded at the lower end 37 thereof by means of a helical spring 38. Another jaw 39 is mounted rigidly on the bar 22 and is located such that when the pivoted member 34 is in one extreme position the jaws 35 and 39 are closed. The spring 38 biases jaws 35 and 39 towards such closed position.

Both the member 34 and the operating lever 29 are provided with complementary engaging faces 40 to enable member 34 to be moved by a related movement of the operating lever 29. This arrangement is such that upon upward rotation of the handle 32 the member 34 is rotated about the pivot 30 to move the jaws 35 and 39 apart and simultaneously the support 24 will be lowered towards jaws 35 and 39 by reason of the extremity 28 of the operating lever 29 being rotated downwardly.

In use of the slider holder shown in FIG. 4 A slider is placed over the support 24 with the body of the slider engaged by the support and the finger grip depending therefrom. By raising the handle 32 the support is lowered and, at the same time, the jaws 35 and 39 open allowing the finger grip to slip therebetween. The handle 32 is then released whereupon the spring 33 lowers the handle 32 and raises the opposite end 28 of the operating lever 29. Such movement of the lever 29 allows closure of jaws 35 and 39 through the action of the spring 38 connected to the member 34. The finger grip of the slider is then firmly held between jaws 35 and 39 while the support 24 is raised causing any automatic locking device on the slider to be opened.

It will be understood that with the above arrangement, since the spring loading of jaws 35 and 39 is independent of that of the handle 32 and thus the support 24, the thickness of the finger grip will not affect the operation of the holder since complete raising of the support 24 is allowed even though jaws 35 and 39 are held apart by the finger grip; the complementary engaging faces 40 are designed to ensure such complete raising of the support.

It will therefore be appreciated that the invention provides a plurality of versatile and effective slider holders which may be used to hold any type of slider presently in use.

What I claim is:

l. A slider holder for a slide fastener slider of the type having a finger grip comprising a support shaped to receive such slider, a perforation through said support adapted to received the finger grip of the slider, and a pair of rlatively movable jaws adapted to engage the finger grip of the slider, the pair of jaws and the support being relatively movable in a direction transverse to the support.

2. In a slider holder for a slide astener slider of the type having a finger grip, the combination comprising body means;

support means on said body means;

perforation means extending through said support means;

jaw means proximate said perforation means; and

lever means pivotally mounted on said body means and movably engaging one of said support means and said jaw means to effect relative parting movement therebetween whereby a finger grip extending through said perforation means is engaged and pulled away from the slider in response to such relative parting movement.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said jaw means comprising a pair of relatively movable jaws and wherein said lever means acts upon the pair of jaws to move the same toward and away from the support means and additionally moves the pair of jaws relative to each other to engage and release the finger grip of the slider.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein said lever means comprises a pair of pivotally connected levers each having one of said jaws at one end, and including another lever having an end pivotally connected to the other end of one of said pair of pivotally connected levers, said another lever having a free end and another pivot between said free end and the end connected at said additional pivot, said another pivot being fixedly mounted'on said body means whereby movement of said another lever about said another pivot effects the movement of the jaws relative to each other as well as relative to the support means.

5. The invention of claim 4 further including an additional lever having an end pivotally connected to the other end of the other of said pair of pivotally connected levers, said additional lever having a free end and said another pivot between said free end and said end pivotally connected, whereby movement of the free ends of said another lever and said additional lever effects the movement of both jaws toward and away from each other as well as relative to the support means.

6. The invention of claim 3 including means for spring biasing the jaws toward each other.

7. The invention of claim 2 wherein the support means comprises a plate.

8. The invention of claim 2 wherein the jaw means comprises a pair of relatively movable jaws and wherein said lever means acts upon the support means to move such toward and away from the jaw means and additionally moves the pair of jaws relative to each other to engage and release the finger grip of the slider.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said lever means comprises a pivotal member carrying one of the jaws and a pivotal lever which abuts the support means and the pivotal member carrying one of the jaws while moving same.

10. The invention of claim 9 wherein said pivotal lever moves the support means toward the jaws while moving the jaws apart and vice versa.

11. The invention of claim 10 including means for spring biasing the jaws toward each other.

12. The invention of claim 8 including means for biasing the support means away from the jaws.

13. The invention of claim 8 wherein one of said jaws is fixed relative to said support means.

t i i t i 

1. A slider holder for a slide fastener slider of the type having a finger grip comprising a support shaped to receive such slider, a perforation through said support adapted to received the finger grip of the slider, and a pair of rlatively movable jaws adapted to engage the finger grip of the slider, the pair of jaws and the support being relatively movable in a direction transverse to the support.
 2. In a slider holder for a slide astener slider of the type having a finger grip, the combination comprising body means; support means on said body means; perforation means extending through said support means; jaw means proximate said perforation means; and lever means pivotally mounted on said body means and movably engaging one of said support means and said jaw means to effect relative parting movement therebetween whereby a finger grip extending through said perforation means is engaged and pulled away from the slider in response to such relative parting movement.
 3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said jaw means comprising a pair of relatively movable jaws and wherein said lever means acts upon the pair of jaws to Move the same toward and away from the support means and additionally moves the pair of jaws relative to each other to engage and release the finger grip of the slider.
 4. The invention of claim 3 wherein said lever means comprises a pair of pivotally connected levers each having one of said jaws at one end, and including another lever having an end pivotally connected to the other end of one of said pair of pivotally connected levers, said another lever having a free end and another pivot between said free end and the end connected at said additional pivot, said another pivot being fixedly mounted on said body means whereby movement of said another lever about said another pivot effects the movement of the jaws relative to each other as well as relative to the support means.
 5. The invention of claim 4 further including an additional lever having an end pivotally connected to the other end of the other of said pair of pivotally connected levers, said additional lever having a free end and said another pivot between said free end and said end pivotally connected, whereby movement of the free ends of said another lever and said additional lever effects the movement of both jaws toward and away from each other as well as relative to the support means.
 6. The invention of claim 3 including means for spring biasing the jaws toward each other.
 7. The invention of claim 2 wherein the support means comprises a plate.
 8. The invention of claim 2 wherein the jaw means comprises a pair of relatively movable jaws and wherein said lever means acts upon the support means to move such toward and away from the jaw means and additionally moves the pair of jaws relative to each other to engage and release the finger grip of the slider.
 9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said lever means comprises a pivotal member carrying one of the jaws and a pivotal lever which abuts the support means and the pivotal member carrying one of the jaws while moving same.
 10. The invention of claim 9 wherein said pivotal lever moves the support means toward the jaws while moving the jaws apart and vice versa.
 11. The invention of claim 10 including means for spring biasing the jaws toward each other.
 12. The invention of claim 8 including means for biasing the support means away from the jaws.
 13. The invention of claim 8 wherein one of said jaws is fixed relative to said support means. 